Kraft Hockeyville pre-season game to be played at Mile One Centre

Kraft Hockeyville pre-season game to be played at Mile One Centrefalse

The Winnipeg Jets, in conjunction with the National Hockey League, the Ottawa Senators, and the Town of Conception Bay South, today announced the Kraft Hockeyville 2011 NHL Pre-Season game between the Senators and Jets will be played at Mile One Centre in St. John’s, NL on September 26, 2011.

“While the pre-season game will be held at Mile One Centre, the Kraft Hockeyville Party will definitely be in Conception Bay South, and only Conception Bay South ” boasts the Town’s Mayor Woodrow French. “On September 24 and 25, the Town will host the best Kraft Hockeyville Party ever both inside and outside the Robert French Memorial Stadium, all captured by CBC for a special one hour show in September.”

According to Town officials, the reasons for playing the game at Mile One Centre was two-fold. Due to the higher capacity at Mile One Centre, the Town can provide 10 times more people the opportunity to experience the game in person. Secondly, along with the title of Kraft Hockeyville, came $100,000 in prize money which in the past was used by previous winning communities to prep their arenas to host the pre-season game. “The $100,000 that the Town received from Kraft Canada, can now go to renovations at the stadium that we know are necessary and will truly benefit our hockey players and figure skaters. By going to Mile One Centre, we can put the $100,000 into our arena and provide our community with a rink that benefits everyone for the long term.” adds French.

Conception Bay South came together to reach a common goal, and it was achieved in a big way! On April 2, 2011 after submitting a record 297 community entries and after achieving the highest number of votes to become one of the five finalists across Canada, Conception Bay South was named the Kraft Hockeyville 2011 Champions with almost 1,000,000 votes. Through a live feed, the coveted title was awarded on CBC’s Hockey Night in Canada by NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman. As a result of the win, the Ottawa Senators and Winnipeg Jets will play a pre-season game at Mile One Centre and the Robert French Memorial Stadium will receive $100,000 in renovations from Kraft Canada.

The 2011 Kraft Hockeyville game against the Senators at Mile One Centre is one of seven pre-season games the Jets will play in the new franchise’s history. The Jets will open the pre-season schedule Tuesday, September 20th with a split-squad game versus the Columbus Blue Jackets both in Columbus and at MTS Centre. The Jets will then play a pair of games each – home and away - against both the Nashville Predators and Carolina Hurricanes. They will host the Hurricanes at MTS Centre on Wednesday, September 28th and then the Predators on Friday, September 30th. All pre-season games at MTS Centre will begin at 7:30 p.m.